More about our Advent Calendars

Each year we use an Advent calendar that I purchased a couple of years ago. It is made of felt and has pockets for each day in December. It is a nativity and each night you place one of the pieces of the nativity from the pocket and put it in the manger. We have done this for several years now and I wanted a new way to use it that reinforces the birth of Christ. This year we added these verses from Hubbards Cubbord. I printed them up on yellow paper and cut off the daily readings and activities and just reading the verse each day. The boys were excited to see something new added and are excited to hear each day's bible verse.

We are also using this countdown calendar from Hubbards Cubbard as well. It has been a big hit each night to add a new star in the sky over the baby Jesus.

Our Homemade Lego Advent Calendar

This year we had added some new advent activities. One of them is a Lego Advent Calendar. I really wanted to buy the boys a Lego Advent Calendar but it was just not in the budget this year and I would have to buy two of them which were definitely not in the budget. (trust me on this~fighting would ensue if there were just one!).

Soooo......I decided to do the next best thing and make my own. I got the idea from a gal on the FIAR board.

I thought and thought how I could go about this and finally came up with this idea. Remember these from Halloween? I decided these would be my container for the calendar. I headed for Dollar Tree and picked up 25 of these little buckets (yes I refrained from buying a bucket for each of them. I figured they could at least share that much!). I also picked up a package of Christmas napkins and got started.


These are two-ply napkins, so I separated them. Then I cut the largest peppermint swirls off the napkins and decoupaged them onto the buckets with Mod Podge.



Oh I added a little bit of fine glitter to the Mod Podge to give it a little sparkle.

Then I took four small (2 of each) sets of Lego Creator kits that are Christmas themed for about $6 each. Then I took small baggies and divided up the pieces for each day for each boy. They each get 3 or 4 pieces each day to try to figure out what it is. I numbered each bucket from 1-25 with a fine point sharpie marker and set them up on one of our bookshelves.

Here are our buckets all set up and ready to go!

Getting their first pieces!

building to try and figure out what it is.

Justin thought maybe this was right.....close but not quite.

Then he thought maybe it went like this....hmmmm

Kaden felt it was a windmill and that was what he stuck with. I loved watching them come up with different ideas as to what it might be......

While this was not completely frugal (I spent about $30 between the buckets, napkins and Lego sets) it was much cheaper than spending $60+ on two Lego Advent Calendars. If we decide to do this next year I will already have the buckets!

What? You want to know what it is? Stay tuned!

All About Spelling~Review

We do not have a spelling program. I have not found any that I have really liked until now. Not long ago I was sent a complimentary copy of All About Spelling Levels 1 and 2 as a member of the TOS Crew.

Justin has recently become a fluent reader. I was looking for a program that would teach him to spell not just teach him to memorize lists of spelling words. I think have found it with this curriculum.

All About Spelling is a multi-sensory program that involves sight, sound and touch. It is a mastery based program not a grade level based program. When a child masters a concept they can move on to the next concept. If they need more work on a particular concept they are able to work on an area until they have master it and feel comfortable moving on. This program teaches your student to under stand the phonics of spelling and gives a solid foundation for learning to spell.

Justin's spelling is slowly improving. He is a very hands on learner and this program is working well for us. I love this program and plan on using it with Kaden as well.

The lessons are scripted and easy to follow. The directions for setting up the lessons are also clear and easy to follow.

In Level 1 lessons your student will learn the following:

• How to say and write the first 32 phonograms
• How to segment words into their individual sounds
• Short and long vowel sounds
• How to identify and count syllables in a word
• How to choose between c and k at the beginning of a word
• When to double f, l, and s
• How to spell /k/ at the end of a word
• How to form plural words by adding s or es
• Compound words
• Open and closed syllable types
• and more!

Starter Kit: Letter tiles, Magnets for the letter tiles, Full set of phonogram cards, phonogram audio CD-Rom $26.95.
Level 1: one teacher manual and one student manual $29.95
Level 2: one teacher manual and one student material packet $39.95
(all prices are before shipping and tax)

We have not started level 2 yet. Here is what your student will learn:

• The open and closed syllable types
• How to divide words into syllables
• How to spell multisyllable words
• When y can say /î/
• How Silent E can make a vowel long
• The vowel-consonant-e syllable type
• Two spellings for the sound of /z/
• The two sounds of long u
• The difference between hard and soft c and g
• Ways to spell long e
• That English words don’t end in i, j, u, or v
• The most common way to spell the sound of /er/
• When to use oi/oy, aw/au, and ow/ou
• and more!

I really like this program and highly recommend it to give your child a great foundation to be a great speller.

For more information or to order visit. All About Spelling. Be sure to look at the Sample Pages and the Scope and Sequence Pages for each level.

To read more reviews be sure to visit the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog.


Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

Ornament Exchange

Once again we are participating in the ornament exchange with other families over on the FIAR forums. Each year we make an ornament from one of our books we have read. Care to guess what these are? They were mailed out today...only a week late but apparently I am in good company!

First Sunday of Advent~Preparing the way

We are preparing....our homes.... our hearts....we are waiting...
for the Father to send the Son...
Emmanuel

Totebag~Quick and Easy Gift

My mom celebrated her 70th birthday on Thanksgiving. I wanted to have the boys make her something. This year our budget is very tight and I was thinking what could we make her that would not be costly and yet nice. My mind was blank.

I needed to be able to use items I already had on hand. Then I remembered I had these tote bags that I had purchased from Walmart and put away last year. They are just a canvas tote bag that I paid about $2 for. We decided to make mom mom a hand print tote bag. I think they came out really cute and mom loved it.

We used fabric paint and puffy paint both of which I had on hand. If you only have acrylic paints on hand that would work fine as well. I learned this at Halloween when we made the boys handprint Halloween shirts. I inadvertently bought black acrylic paint instead of fabric paint. They went through the washer and dryer just fine.

This would make a great Christmas gift for an aunt, mom, grandma.

We put hand prints on both sides. The green in the left corner cannot be seen very well in the photo but it was sparkly green.

I added little flowers with some puffy paint after the handprints dried.

close up

Happy Airplane Day Justin!

Eight years ago today daddy and I were waiting for our lives to change forever. Eight years ago today we stood anxiously in an airport with family and friends waiting to meet you! Eight years ago today God blessed us with you our beautiful son!

We are so thankful and blessed that God chose us to be your parents. What an honor to get to be a part of your life. You make us laugh and bring us joy each and everyday. We love you Justin! Happy Airplane Day!

The first picture we have of Justin!

Our first picture as a family!

Our beautiful boy!

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute,
You didn't grow under my heart,
But in it.
author unknown